The intruder escaped and drove straight to a Sandy Bay doctor. His forearm would need plenty of stitches and was bandaged. He was given a tetanus injection. Next, he visited a butcher where he bought a kilogram of kangaroo meat and big bones. Then he went to a pharmacist and purchased arsenic and rat poison. The injured man mixed the meat and the poisons, and returned to Haut’s home.

Carrying a big wrench, he climbed onto the fence, exciting Mac, who leapt at him. The intruder stayed out of reach of the animal’s snapping jaws. He then tossed the meat from a plastic bag and watched the huge dog sniff the meat for several seconds before chomping into it. Mac was soon vomiting. He lay down and moaned. The intruder climbed over the fence, ready to leave quickly if Mac attacked. But Mac was in no state to defend his territory. The intruder then bashed the dog’s skull with the wrench until he was dead.

Calmly and coldly he then removed a phone from his pocket and began to take shots of the home and all its entrances.

*

Haut drove home at dusk. Mac always made a loud fuss at his master’s return but this evening there was no bustle at the side gate or bark from the yard. Worried, Haut went outside and found the dead dog. He began crying. After a few minutes of uncontrollable grief, he knelt on one knee and said a prayer, which ended with: ‘Oh Lord, I cannot judge the perpetrator for his cruel deed. I shall leave that to you.’

Then, with a heavy heart, he wrapped the big animal in a canvas bag and buried him deep in the back garden.

Later, he rang Cavalier to tell him the depressing news.

‘It’s a warning,’ Haut said. ‘They may believe I’m behind the newspaper attacks.’

‘Did you get CCTV footage?’

‘No. I’m just installing it.’

‘Do you want me to back off with the writing?’

‘No,’ Haut said, ‘I want you to go as hard as you can!’

26 SINGAPORE ABORTED

26

SINGAPORE ABORTED

Haut realised he would need capital from outside Australia to back his oil project. With that aim, he flew to Singapore. It was his first visit and he was struck by the clammy heat, which he abhorred. He blamed his discomfort on his Tasmanian Indigenous background. He also claimed the heat slowed the responses of his five-orbit brain. Only sleep in good air-conditioning could restore it to full force.

He was greeted by CK Pan, a billionaire Singaporean businessman, and chauffeured to the Marriott Hotel on Orchard Road. Pan—a jolly, corpulent 55-year-old—spoke impeccable English and was an Oxford University graduate with a wide range of contacts in the oil industry.